DHAKA: Contrary to what many thought that a relative calm would descend, at least for a while, in the political arena in Bangladesh after the Oct 1 polls, the demeanour of political leaders across the political divide is seemingly getting out of hand.

The BNP-led four-party alliance after winning a landslide two- thirds majority in the house of 300 surprised most people by forming the largest-ever 60-member cabinet. The impression one gets is that the prime minister had to do this to accommodate the young Turks of the party. Party sympathizers, who were promised a small cabinet by the BNP stalwarts, however, did not like it.

The reason behind the Awami League’s massive electoral defeat in the last election was the BNP-led alliance’s success in projecting the lawlessness that existed in the country and the role of the former ruling leaders, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in publicly supporting many of the notorious ‘godfathers’ of different areas in the country.

Sheikh Hasina and some of her party stalwarts had also campaigned for more than half a dozen of these ‘godfathers’ who had contested for parliamentary membership as AL candidates. The decision to put up such notorious people as party candidates also did not go well with the people. However, voters rejected all of them.

The BNP-led alliance promised the voters that if elected, they would restore the law and order in the country and bring peace for the people. In their exasperation to see a change — any change, for that matter — the people voted against the misrule of the Awami League, and BNP benefited from this swing in negative voting, and not for any love for them. But the BNP leadership has failed to realize it.

The AL lawmakers, a total of 55 in number, on Sheikh Hasina’s directive have boycotted the parliamentary sessions from day-one. Sheikh Hasina did not accept the election results and if her mood and latest statements are any guide, the AL members are unlikely to attend the session in the near future, though most of the MPs and the newly-elected ones in particular, are in favour of joining the parliament.

Although the law and order situation improved somewhat after Prime Minister Begum Zia took actions within weeks after forming the government against some of the ruling party officials, including the brother of a state minister and a party MP, it has started deteriorating again. Unfortunately for the hapless people, without direct intervention of the prime minister nothing seems to happen in this country.

What, however, concern the analysts more is the fact that the government of Prime Minister Begum Zia does not appear seriously perturbed over the deteriorating law and order situation.

Home Minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) Altaf Hussain Chowdhury told newsmen last week: “If we compare the present scenario with the previous one, we must say that the situation is now fully under control.” However, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia agreed to a suggestion that the law and order situation has further deteriorated in recent weeks, but accused the opposition Awami League for the situation.

Zia’s latest statement echoes almost identical ones made by Sheikh Hasina when she was the prime minister. At that time she had also talked about the enactment of new laws to curb crime and accused the opposition cadres of being involved in sponsoring terrorism. It is the same rigmarole.

Ironically, the top government leaders - present as well as the past - seem to believe that enactment of new laws would help them improve the law and order situation, forgetting that the problem is not with the laws but its implementation. The government has to have the will to firmly apply the law indiscriminately to curb crime and violence. Any discrimination in its application would be self-defeating.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the ruling BNP as well as the main opposition Awami League are now engaged in trading vitriolic words. On return from her month-long stay in Florida with her daughter, and another week in London with her sister, Sheikh Hasina has stepped up her verbiage against the government’s handling of the situation.

She has also kept asking her supporters to retaliate any attack on them by the ruling party activists. In a statement issued in early March she reportedly called on her partymen to ‘torch the houses of those that might torch theirs and retaliate against those who could be attempting to attack the Leaguers.’

Meanwhile, a former state minister in Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet, A.K.M. Faezul Haq in a signed article in Dhaka’s Daily Star had contested the party decision to boycott the parliament session and termed it as “suicidal.”

Referring to Sheikh Hasina’s decision to boycott, he said it is “even more preposterous for the 55 odd members not to take part in the parliament’s proceedings.” However, Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said that “a congenial atmosphere is lacking (for herself and her party) to attend the parliament.”